Craft, Class, and Control: The Sociology of a Shipbuilding Community

by Ian Roberts

Once the world's largest shipbuilding town, the industry in Wearside was extinguished at a stroke in December 1988 by Conservative government policy. Craft, Class and Control charts the decline of British shipbuilding from 1930 to the present day. It discusses the industry's fate at both a national and international level but concentrates specifically on Wearside, so complementing existing studies which focus more on the Clyde and Tyne. It looks at the craft division of labour and the ways in which both capital and labour have defended this system of production in the past, providing an historical account of the relationship between community and industry. Dealing with questions of the changing identity, orientations and values of shop-floor workers Craft, Class and Control then relates these to the wider debate about the nature of the working class.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published July 22, 1993